Lighting questions

[barok]

Found this forum a few days ago and it's been helping me a lot.

Bought a 40 gallon tank kit from Big Al's over a month ago and have been very happy with it. We did have three casualties mainly due to new tank syndrome and for not reading more information about freshwater tank. Learned my lesson the hard way.

I'm happy to inform everyone that my tank is now cycled, water status is stable and all 28 inhabitants are live and well.

I was able to score some java moss. A portion of it is sitting in my driftwood for about a week and the other portion is a DIY java moss carpet. I know they are low-light plants.

I have 6700k T5 lighting that came with the kit. Do I have enough lighting to grow java moss? If not, can someone recomment a DIY or an inexpensive (less than $100) replacement?

Looking forward on hearing your suggestions.

 

[jsoong]

Hi & welcome to AA!

What watt is the T5? How many tubes?

Assuming that this is a single tube 36" T5-HO (39W), you will have a low light setup for the tank. You can prob manage Java moss/ferns, but don't expect fast growth.

There is not a lot of DIY options for tanks shorter than 4'. If you want to upgrade, you can consider adding another fixture if you have a glass top. <Dual 36" T5-HO's are now ~$80 US over the web.> You may also consider a retrofit kit if you have a canopy. <Eg, the AH supply's 38W PC kit is around $40 US.> However, you might just try it & see how well the plants grow before shelling out $$ for an upgrade.

 

[mgamer20o0]

most kits come with t8. what ever it is you should be able to get away with it. more info would help like what jsoong asked.

T5-ho 3ft / 2LAMP Aquarium lighting